theHousePlanner

Grey Water
and sustainable drainage:

Management of water resources
is becoming a key issue -much of the rain that falls on urban
areas is subject to immediate run off on hard surfaces and is
rapidly discharged into the sea via the drainage system. Homeowners
can do a lot to alleviate this by utilising Grey Water collected
from roofs and also by ensuring that paving materials allow water
to percolate into the ground.

Paving materials to avoid include
solid concrete and tarmacadam -far better to use sand bedded
paving blocks on a compacted hardcore base which will allow water
to percolate through; simialarly gravel beds, chippings and other
loose finishes will achieve the same end.

Sustainable Drainage Systems,
otherwise known as SUDS, attempt to deal with the rapid runoff
of rainwater by provision of holding ponds, filter strips, swales
and soakaways within landscape design.

Water from the roof can be
captured for re-use -all you need is a diverter on rainwater
pipes leading off to storage barrels.

Robert Bray Associates -specialists in Sustainable Urban Drainage (SUDS),
the environmentally friendly way of dealing with surface water
runoff which avoids the problems associated with conventional
drainage practice.

Save
the Rain -lobby group
which is campaigning for the Government to amend the Building
Regulations to incoporate rainwater harvesting into every new
home.